Cathy Kelly's summers in Sligo

Like many children raised in Dublin with country roots, author Cathy Kelly spent every summer of her childhood on her grandmother’s farm near Enniscrone.

There were two main talents for which Cathy’s grandmother liked to show her off.

“My grandmother’s big thing was that I could read from the age of three,” explains Cathy lightly.

“When I was down with her in the west she would get out either – and I’m not just saying this – the Sunday Press or the Farmers Journal, and she would get me to read it. That was my party trick.

Acclaimed author Cathy Kelly grew up in Dublin, but spent her summers in Sligo.

“The other party trick, however, was less attractive, in that she would pull up the back of my T-shirt and say: ‘Look at the fine hairy back on her.’

"It wasn’t sort of long black hair – I’m very fair – it was sort of downy chick hair that children sometimes have,” she laughs.

Speaking with Cathy she is bright and bubbly, and with light-hearted humour outlines that she felt like some sort of half-city, half-country hybrid growing up, whereby she was considered a country kid in the city and a city slicker in the country.

The hens

By far the author’s favourite part of her Sligo holiday was looking after the animals.

Among her charges for the three months were the hens: “The pullets lived beside the house, so my grandmother would feel them for an egg in the morning.

“It was my job to run after them and see where they were going to lay the eggs. I loved them; they were my pets.

I talked to them, I can do a very good hen impression. I trained the hens to jump for blackberries. They were lovely; they were my babies.

This experience clearly never left Cathy, as she enthuses down the phone that she still loves chickens and names out the books she can see on the shelf in her study relating to poultry.

“I have got a book here, Beautiful Chickens, and there is a silkie on the cover. Oh God, anyone who has hens will know what a silkie is: they look like the poodle of the hen world,” she says zealously.

New book

But, no matter how strong her love for hens, it is not poultry-related books that are occupying Cathy’s time at present, rather her latest work of fiction, The Year that Changed Everything, which was released this week.

The book tells the story of the challenges faced by Ginger, Sam and Callie as they turn 30, 40 and 50 respectively.

Cathy has penned almost 20 novels, so Irish Country Living is therefore surprised to hear that she still gets nervous as to how her books are going to be received.

“You always feel really scared. Some people think I’m making that up, or that it’s some sort of false modesty. No, it’s genuine,” explains Cathy earnestly.

“It’s funny, Sheila O’Flanagan, Patricia Scanlan and Marian Keyes had read the new book and they all rang or texted to say: ‘Oh, we really like it.’ I was like: ‘That’s nice. I don’t believe you.’ It’s instinct to think that way,” she laughs.

This year is set to be a busy one for the author as, along with releasing The Year that Changed Everything and starting to write another book, Cathy is also taking a trip with UNICEF in her capacity as one of their ambassadors.

She has previously travelled to Rwanda and Jordan with the charity.

Modern Irish Women

Throughout the interview, Cathy speaks with great enthusiasm on all topics. That is the type of person she is.

But it is when talking about books that she truly comes alive.

When asked about her favourite authors, she comes up with a list as long as her arm, from Walter Macken to Edna O’Brien.

It was upon reading City Girl by Patricia Scanlan that she first realised she could write about modern Irish women – and that is exactly what she went on to do.

I remember thinking: ‘Oh my God, you can write about modern Irish women. That’s allowed, that’s a thing.’

"That sort of made me think, ‘OK, maybe one day I could do this,’” says Cathy passionately.

“There were an awful lot of books about historical Ireland, but there seemed to be so few on modern Ireland and modern women, who got on the train we got on and would walk up the street we might walk up.

“People writing about modern Irish women, that all became possible because of the Maeve Binchys and the Patricia Scanlans, who said; ‘Yes, this is OK. People like this.’”

The modern Irish women who grace the pages of Cathy’s books are born in her study in Enniskerry, having settled in Wicklow with her husband and children. Descriptive as always, the writer illustrates what she can see from her office window.

“I can see trees, there’s a lovely field, it isn’t mine, sadly, but it’s a very beautiful field. There’s a pheasant that comes up the field and I think he thinks he is our pet.”

All she’s missing are the hens.

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